Sunny_0ne

I would say those are definitely NOT black trumpets. Here are some good photos and a video of what black trumpets look like and where they are found. (You will have to click OK to the disclaimer first.) http://americanmushrooms.com/edibles7.htm

Great report, coastwx! I'm surprised some of the oysters survived that temperature. At least you have friends who will eat your wild mushrooms. Mine are all too afraid that I might poison them to try them!

So good to see you still hiking and finding mushrooms, jdcooper. Love it when you post your photos. Sorry I can't help you with ID.

Thanks so much, Dave! I don't know why I didn't just think of doing a black/white paper with my printer! I have used aluminum foil before and I had a very difficult time trying to see light colored spore prints on it. Of course, they were not thick spore prints because I was trying to rush things along. There is probably a lesson in patience there. Maybe I will take the glass out of an old photo frame, tape the edges thickly to make it safe to handle, and use that. At least until I can buy some Plexiglass. I don't know why I thought I had to buy specialty black paper! I am one of those who usually devises the most difficult, circuitous way to do anything!

Dave, where do you find black paper? Do you use construction paper? Can you point us to a source?

Thank you, Dave. Those are keepers! I'm copying them and hoarding them until my next oyster find. I appreciate your taking the time to share them!

Thanks! I wonder if they would work as a mushroom pizza base like a portabello? The oysters I have cooked have been a little tough, but it might be fun to find out!

coastwx, I would have never thought of grilling oysters. Something new for me to try.

I would never have expected that mushrooms would grow on a beach. I would have thought it would be too dry, too windy and too salty. But one of my girlfriends took this photo at St. Joseph Peninsula State Park in Florida last week. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v227/pshermanfl/Kayaking%20photos/Camping/mushrooms111213.jpg At first I thought someone might have put them there as a prank. Maybe they were plastic? But I did some reading and discovered that there are mychorrizal mushrooms that grow on beaches, too, that help the scrubby trees that grow in the dunes. I am sure the mushroom experts here won't be surprised, but I certainly was!

So glad you are here, JustMe!

The top photos look like gems, jdcooper. I really wish I would take some time off and go scout for what is available around here, but am bogged down in one too may projects. So I doubly enjoy your photos!

(DS)&Mayfly, as always, your photos are a delight!

What a beautiful bonanza of oysters, even if they were frozen!

One time I wrote a mushroom expert asking why my sample didn't look like the one in his book. He replied, "They don't know they are supposed to look exactly like the ones in the book."

I smiled. Hopefully its beautiful children will reappear next year to delight you with their beauty.

Wow! That just goes to show you how wrong you can be IDing a mushroom long distance! The photos of the ones I thought it was look more like my sister's mushroom than the real things do! Except for the ring. Thank you, Dave!

I've missed your great photos lately!

Thanks, Daniel. I checked out Lepista saeva. It said they were choice edibles. However, they have a pink spore print and mine didn't. I'm hoping a few more emerge so I can do a much better job of examining them. BTW, I am glad you are here. I wish there was more activity, but it's really quiet here now.

Earlier this year my sister found this gorgeous, translucent, ethereal mushroom with yellow "umbrella ribs." She asked me to identify it for her, and I believe it is Pleated Inky Cap. The scientific name was listed as both Coprinus plicatilis and Parasola plicatilis. this is the most beautiful mushroom I have ever seen. Since they are her photos, I am just posting a link to them.

That was one of the ones I had checked out. They mention a radish like odor. Unfortunately I did not smell or taste my samples, so that clue is useless to me. I don't know why I have such a hard time remembering to smell and taste. (kicking self!)

Deleted cause I'm trying too hard!

Dave, I'm convinced they are not a cortinarius, too. I just went outside and tried to find some more so I could do a better job of examining them, but there are none to be found. I didn't get a good spore print. I got just a smudge of brown. I can't remember now exactly what color it was, but I think it was a medium dark brown -- darker than rusty brown, but not chocolate brown. Also, the stalks are not broken off. I cut them off with a knife and they were firm and not brittle. I think I am going to have to wait until I find more of them and get a good spore print before we can really attempt a good ID. I did use the mykoweb software and came up with nothing on it. So thanks so much for trying to help, but I don't think I gave you enough to go on this time!

Maybe it's a stropharia? (stropharius?)

I agree. And I don't recall seeing any cortina remnants anywhere. It doesn't show up in the photo, but the gills were slightly discolored by the brown spore color. So I think I am barking up the wrong tree with my cortinarius guess.

I don't know about the mushroom, but that sure is a cute little toad. (Sitting on his toadstool.) HeeHee!